


Old Habits Die Hard

by electricmindart



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Baby Ignis Scientia, Baby Noctis Lucis Caelum, Fluff, Habits/Quirks, M/M, Post-Crystal, SO MUCH FLUFF, brotherhood era, different POVs, the additional character tags are for the different outsider POVs, this goes through like four different time periods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 02:49:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20056801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electricmindart/pseuds/electricmindart
Summary: Day 3 for Ignoct Week - simple prompt: Habits/Quirks!Ignis and Noct's relationship habits through how other people have always seen them





	Old Habits Die Hard

**Author's Note:**

> I know that this is day three and the last one I wrote was for the first day, but the second one has art up on my tumblr, electricmindart, if you're interesting in seeing it!
> 
> If not, then I hope you enjoy this fic!

When Noctis and Ignis were just boys, Regis recalls, they had always centered around each other in a habitual, constant sort of way. The first person Noctis would go to for help would be his advisor in training - he’d get into trouble and scramble off to find Ignis only to return moments later holding onto the boy’s small wrist, dragging him along. If there was an event that Noctis never wanted part of, he would find Ignis and stick to him all night as though the boy was the mouth for his mind instead of speaking for himself.

This also carried into sleeping habits. Regis would tuck Noctis into bed some nights, when he could find the time to be able, and once he left to finish up what duties he had left he would return either that night or in the morning to see Ignis curled up over the covers of Noct’s bed with a storybook lying abandoned and open with both boys calmly asleep. Some nights they would both be missing, the book of the night having fallen to the floor, only to see the young prince leaning into his advisor’s side out in the night air of a citadel balcony. He’d be dozing off on Ignis’s shoulder as the advisor would, as he explained to Regis on the first night they got caught sneaking out of Noct’s room, show him the stars dotting the night sky and the connections into constellations they came with.

Eating habits hadn’t changed much. Noctis still refused to eat his vegetables, instead picking around them, even with Ignis often chiding him with an understanding of how important the nutrition to his diet is that he received from the king himself. The only difference was that somewhere down the line things shifted; Noctis ate a few vegetables (not as many as hoped, but definitely more than he would typically) after a few words from Ignis. Being children, everything they did were whispered, so whatever magical words Ignis had told the prince to make him manage a few vegetables from his plate were lost to Regis, but he was grateful that it could happen at all.

* * *

When Prompto began his friendship with Noctis in school, he noticed he had a habit of keeping to himself. He knew when they were children he had the same habit, one where he would run off to the most secluded part of the school first sign of break, but he never expected it to carry into this age. He would hardly speak beyond unenthusiastic answers in class or private conversation with him, Ignis, or Gladio. Ignis always seemed to receive the most conversation when he was over visiting Noctis to play games or study. They would share more lively conversation than Prompto had ever seen either of them individually have with Noctis asking what was on the menu for dinner and Ignis’s response would get a tease back only for the volley to come back around with a final amused comment from the advisor.

That also led into how Noctis had difference in what he did in public versus in the comfort of his own apartment. Perhaps Prompto should have noted those quirks as what tipped him off to the relationship between Noctis and Ignis. He’d visit the prince out of the blue instead of following him home and find Ignis already there, far past or far earlier to when he would be assigned to check in on him, and looking more relaxed than he could have ever expected the typically uptight advisor to be. He would walk inside and note the blanket on the couch tossed aside and the suddenly fixed posture on Ignis as Noctis led Prompto inside. Maybe it was the soft pink tint to Ignis’s cheeks that made him believe he should start watching his best friend more to see what  _ other habits _ he seemed to be hiding.

* * *

The road trip to Altissia was one place nobody could hide from the quirks of Ignis and Noct’s relationship. Gladio knew it better than anyone as someone who had to watch Noctis very closely. He noticed the way they would stick closer together than the rest of the group, the way Noctis would ask for Ignis to make his own favourite dishes at camp and the way Ignis would surprise Noctis with his favourites as well. Some mornings Noct would make an effort to even wake up early to help Ignis cook breakfast as they talked aimlessly about childhood memories, and Gladio knew firsthand that waking up at dawn was something he rarely did without complaint.

At the havens along the journey were the prime chances to see how they were gravitated to each other as strong as ever. Where Prompto would be tasked with getting things ready for the dinner Ignis created, Noctis would be right beside Ignis lazily. He’d have an arm around his advisor’s waist with smiles painted on both halves of the pair, some words murmured between them that no one else could hear pulling a rare chuckle (that’s become less and less rare over time). Ignis smiled more around Noctis and it was welcome - even when the prince stole his attention from everything they did. Washing dishes was a pain with Noct covering half of Ignis’s face in steady, gentle kisses or just urging him to shirk the work onto someone else so he could fall asleep early with arms around him. It was a little bit of trouble, but it was them, and Gladio was happy if they were happy no matter how much it sucked washing dishes, dead tired, for three nights in a row.

* * *

Insomnia’s reconstruction was, surprisingly to Noctis, more involved than the journey he had been on up to the point. Every aspect of rebuilding the city made Noctis realize he was in over his head, knowing he had no proper training to be a king beyond what he expected to be his sacrifice. Luckily, the ever-prepared Ignis took over most of the heavy lifting for his sake. It made Noctis think of when they were children again, running to find the boy always at his side so they he could speak in his stead. It seemed to always come back to that; Ignis was his voice in times of need. He would come to the rescue when Noct looked scared to speak, wedding band around his finger being twisted and played with in and anxious manner. Old habits die hard, they say, and there was never one more comforting that the king could imagine than that.

There was no change in the way the king ate, even after he had marinated in the light and aged ten years. He was still as picky as ever and ate around the vegetables Ignis tried to cook into dishes. He would do everything to avoid them, including trying to sneak them onto the other’s plate while he had to check his phone for texts and calls about the reconstruction progress. Needless to say… it never worked. Instead, Ignis picked up an old habit of leaning close and promising Noctis something he couldn’t refuse in exchange for certain greens to be eaten. It had started with promises of his favourite dessert being requested to the chefs as a child to allowing him have a day off from princely duties and now he would often be given the offer of staying at home to relax while Ignis tended to his meetings (offering the excuse of illness or injury). The offer would now always be met with a request of Ignis joining him, but it only ever came out to a half day in that aspect.

Sleeping was a different story, yet the same all over. Noctis would prepare himself for bed and slip under the sheets with exhaustion in his bones and his hair tied back carefully to keep it from invading his face upon waking up, but instead of waiting for a signal, Ignis would join him moments after with a gentle sigh and a kiss goodnight so full of love. They would sleep intertwined, waking up with the king’s face pressed against his husband’s chest. If there was a particularly bad night, Noctis would awake from a nightmare - one typically about losing everyone he loves, all too real and vibrant for his comfort - only to have Ignis gingerly guide him to their balcony in the night and ask him if he remembered the stars and their patterns. They would share stories of made up constellations in quiet, tired voices as they watched the stars twinkle and feel their eyes grow drowsy. It had been no new habit for Noctis to fall asleep on Ignis during those hours, but it had been something new for Ignis to feel himself doze off on him in return. Nights like those managed to see them to waking up to dawn’s light shining and shimmering across the horizon to light their home with morning hues.

There was nothing like having little moments, little mannerisms and habits, to make either of them feel special. There was never a moment between them that didn’t boil down to their love and little rituals they had specifically between them - little kisses as quick greetings, watching something objectively horrible yet fun on TV while curled up with each other, discussing scars and shared experiences, and talk about their deep-rooted love late into the night while half conscious and feeling much. Nothing could beat the feeling of having those special things for them. It was them and no one else.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
